Monday, 25 August 2014

Often the reason a scene doesn’t work, or doesn’t seem to
have any life to it, is because what’s happening in the scene isn’t very interesting.

People may be doing things, moving around, attempting to
reach their goals, but how they’re going about is too straightforward or too
easy.

There are various ways to achieve things in life that are
reasonable and sensible. You want to be a doctor, you go to medical school and
study hard. If you portray that within a story it may feel realistic and true,
but it won’t be very gripping.

Monday, 11 August 2014

There
are some basic rules to writing action in fiction that are
straightforward and make sense. Keep sentences short to add pace. Be
clear and use simple language when describing complicated moves. Show
don't tell.

This
doesn’t just apply to fights and chases. Any confrontation, any
physical movement, any visual scene will have an action element to it.
However, you can’t just replicate Hollywood movie visuals, the picture
in the reader’s head won't automatically have the same impact as
stunt-work on the big screen. You have to find a way to translate what's
on the page into an emotional experience for the reader.

Monday, 4 August 2014

This
post specifically relates to getting from the first draft to the second
draft. This rewrite is key to the whole rewriting process. Further down
the line changes in small details and polishing of the text become
important, but at this stage the transition from raw material to
story-worthy narrative is what’s going to keep you interested in coming
back time and again in order to get the story told.

By establishing
exactly what the story is about now, you can save yourself a lot of trouble later.